Ever wondered what it takes to build a multi-billion dollar company in the middle of a market crash? MoonPay founders Ivan Soter-Wright and Victor Faramund saw opportunity where others saw disaster, creating a crypto infrastructure business now valued at $3.4 billion.
Founded in 2019 when Bitcoin had plunged 80%, MoonPay tackled a straightforward problem: making cryptocurrency purchases as simple as using a credit card. The founders’ complementary skills proved essential to their success—Ivan bringing visionary fintech experience while Victor contributed technical depth from his time at Apple. Their balanced partnership exemplifies how different perspectives create stronger businesses, especially in volatile industries.
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MoonPay's Origin and Founders
Speaker 1
0:00
Ivan
Soter-Wright
and
Victor
Faramund
are
the
founders
behind
Moonpay
,
a
remote-friendly
crypto
infrastructure
company
that's
grown
from
a
simple
idea
to
a
business
valued
at
over
$3.4
billion
.
Their
story
is
a
clear
example
of
how
location-independent
businesses
can
scale
fast
in
the
digital
economy
,
even
when
operating
in
one
of
the
most
volatile
industries
out
there
.
The
starting
point
for
MoonPay
was
a
single
,
straightforward
question
what
if
buying
cryptocurrency
was
as
easy
as
using
a
credit
card
?
In
2019
,
at
a
time
when
crypto
markets
had
just
taken
a
massive
hit
Bitcoin
was
down
nearly
80%
Ivan
and
Victor
believed
that
crypto's
long-term
potential
was
far
from
over
.
Instead
of
retreating
like
many
others
,
at
that
moment
,
they
saw
an
opportunity
sitting
right
in
front
of
them
.
The
two
founders
brought
very
different
but
complementary
skills
to
the
table
.
Speaker 1
1:00
Ivan
,
who
became
CEO
,
came
from
a
background
in
fintech
and
entrepreneurship
.
Before
Moonpay
,
he'd
built
Saveable
,
a
smart
money
app
that
helped
people
across
Europe
automate
investments
and
manage
their
spending
.
That
company
was
eventually
acquired
,
and
from
there
,
ivan
also
went
on
to
start
a
venture
capital
fund
focused
on
crypto
and
emerging
financial
technology
.
Venture
capital
fund
focused
on
crypto
and
emerging
financial
technology
.
His
academic
background
was
a
mix
of
economics
and
philosophy
,
studied
on
both
sides
of
the
Atlantic
at
George
Washington
University
and
later
at
Oxford
.
Victor
,
on
the
other
hand
,
came
with
deep
technical
expertise
.
He
worked
as
a
software
engineer
at
Apple
and
played
a
major
role
in
the
early
development
of
a
startup
called
Skello
,
an
online
scheduling
software
.
He
brought
extensive
full-stack
engineering
experience
paired
with
a
strong
academic
foundation
in
mathematics
and
computer
science
from
top
European
institutions
.
Their
personalities
balanced
each
other
out
.
Ivan
has
often
been
described
as
the
big
picture
visionary
,
always
looking
at
what's
possible
,
while
Victor
brought
a
more
grounded
,
pragmatic
approach
,
keeping
their
engineering
decisions
tied
to
reality
.
That
mix
of
idealism
and
realism
became
one
of
Moonpay's
Building a Remote Crypto Infrastructure
Speaker 1
2:18
strengths
,
especially
as
they
navigated
the
uncertain
world
of
crypto
.
Speaker 1
2:23
They
started
small
,
with
just
five
people
making
up
the
original
team
.
Their
minimum
viable
product
went
live
first
in
Tokyo
,
which
was
a
very
deliberate
early
market
test
.
From
there
they
expanded
globally
.
The
first
product
focused
entirely
on
solving
what's
known
as
the
on-ramp
problem
helping
everyday
users
convert
traditional
fiat
currencies
into
crypto
quickly
and
securely
.
From
day
one
,
moonpay
was
adapted
to
run
as
a
remote
business
and
,
while
they
officially
list
Miami
as
their
headquarters
,
most
of
the
team
works
on
a
distributed
basis
.
The
company
operates
across
multiple
time
zones
,
serving
customers
in
more
than
160
countries
.
That
remote
model
allowed
them
to
hire
globally
,
without
the
restrictions
of
office
locations
or
regional
talent
pools
.
It
also
meant
they
could
develop
,
iterate
and
support
customers
around
the
clock
,
keeping
the
business
moving
even
while
some
parts
of
the
team
were
asleep
.
The
nature
of
their
business
building
infrastructure
for
a
decentralized
financial
system
was
perfectly
aligned
with
building
a
decentralized
organization
.
Their
business
model
is
simple
at
its
core
,
but
highly
scalable
.
The Dual Business Model
Speaker 1
3:41
Moonpay
positions
itself
as
the
PayPal
for
crypto
,
offering
the
payment
infrastructure
that
bridges
traditional
finance
with
cryptocurrency
.
Payment
infrastructure
that
bridges
traditional
finance
with
cryptocurrency
.
Their
platform
serves
two
main
groups
individual
consumers
and
business
clients
.
For
individuals
,
moonpay
offers
an
incredibly
simple
interface
that
allows
users
to
purchase
crypto
with
familiar
payment
methods
Credit
cards
,
debit
cards
,
apple
Pay
,
Pay
,
paypal
,
even
local
bank
transfers
.
What's
important
here
is
that
Moonpay
operates
as
a
non-custodial
platform
,
meaning
they
don't
hold
the
customer's
funds
.
The
user
retains
control
over
their
assets
,
which
aligns
with
the
core
values
that
underpin
much
of
the
crypto
ecosystem
.
For
businesses
,
moonpay
offers
embeddable
infrastructure
that
allows
any
app
or
website
to
integrate
crypto
payments
seamlessly
.
A
few
lines
of
code
is
all
it
takes
for
other
companies
to
embed
MoonPay's
solution
directly
into
their
own
platforms
.
This
model
removes
the
headache
of
compliance
,
fraud
protection
and
payment
processing
from
the
partners
who
adopt
their
solution
.
This
dual
business-to-consumer
and
business-to-business
model
helped
Moonpay
expand
extremely
quickly
.
By
2023
,
they
were
serving
over
30
million
users
across
more
than
300
business
platforms
,
with
over
$2
billion
in
transactions
processed
in
their
first
two
years
alone
.
Today
,
they
support
over
80
different
crypto
assets
and
they
continue
to
expand
that
offering
.
Speaker 1
5:19
Naturally
,
building
a
crypto
company
comes
with
regulatory
challenges
.
Compliance
with
global
anti-money
laundering
regulations
is
complex
and
constantly
shifting
is
complex
and
constantly
shifting
.
Moonpay
made
regulatory
compliance
a
priority
early
on
.
That
upfront
investment
in
security
and
compliance
helped
them
build
trust
with
both
users
and
institutional
partners
,
trust
that's
especially
critical
in
the
crypto
space
,
where
security
breaches
and
regulatory
uncertainty
have
derailed
Funding and Rapid Expansion
Speaker 1
5:51
many
competitors
.
The
fact
that
Moonpay
launched
right
after
a
major
crypto
crash
might
seem
like
poor
timing
,
but
in
some
ways
,
it
was
exactly
the
opposite
.
Building
infrastructure
during
a
market
downturn
allowed
them
to
grow
quietly
,
focus
on
their
product
and
be
well
positioned
when
crypto
enthusiasm
picked
up
.
The
growth
really
took
off
after
their
Series
A
funding
round
in
late
2021
.
Speaker 1
6:17
Moonpay
raised
$555
million
in
one
of
the
largest
Series
A
rounds
ever
for
a
crypto
startup
.
That
round
was
led
by
major
investors
like
Tiger
Global
and
KOTU
Management
,
valuing
the
company
at
$3.4
billion
.
They
added
another
$87
million
shortly
after
in
a
Series
A
extension
.
The
funding
allowed
Moonpay
to
scale
quickly
.
The
team
grew
from
around
130
employees
to
over
300
.
At
the
time
of
this
recording
,
they
sit
somewhere
between
200
and
500
employees
globally
,
still
operating
primarily
as
a
remote
organization
.
Speaker 1
6:57
With
the
new
capital
,
they
began
expanding
their
product
suite
beyond
simple
crypto
on-ramps
.
They
moved
deeper
into
Web3
infrastructure
,
including
NFT
payments
and
additional
enterprise
solutions
.
They
also
pursued
strategic
acquisitions
,
including
discussions
to
acquire
HelioPay
,
a
crypto
e-commerce
platform
,
for
roughly
$150
million
.
Partnerships
have
also
played
a
big
role
in
MoonPay's
expansion
.
They've
worked
with
major
brands
like
Fox
,
universal
Pictures
Key Success Factors
Speaker 1
7:29
and
even
Snoop
Dogg's
Death
Row
Records
to
build
NFT
platforms
,
helping
bring
crypto
and
NFTs
into
mainstream
media
.
These
partnerships
allowed
MoonPay
to
move
beyond
the
core
crypto
native
audience
and
into
wider
consumer
markets
.
Today
,
their
user
base
includes
more
than
30
million
people
across
160
countries
,
which
is
remarkable
when
you
consider
they
started
with
just
five
people
only
a
few
years
ago
.
Speaker 1
7:55
Ivan
and
Victor's
story
stands
out
for
a
few
reasons
.
First
,
their
partnership
shows
the
power
of
complementary
skill
sets
.
Having
a
visionary
founder
balanced
by
a
technically
grounded
co-founder
creates
strong
decision-making
dynamics
.
Second
,
their
remote
first
model
wasn't
an
afterthought
or
a
pandemic
pivot
.
It
was
intentional
and
it
allowed
them
to
recruit
globally
,
scale
rapidly
and
operate
efficiently
without
being
tied
to
any
single
geography
.
This
is
something
I
strongly
believe
more
founders
can
take
advantage
of
today
.
Speaker 1
8:32
Third
,
they
solved
a
real
problem
.
Buying
crypto
used
to
be
complicated
.
Moonpay
simplified
the
process
for
both
consumers
and
businesses
,
removing
friction
that
kept
many
potential
users
on
the
sidelines
.
Fourth
,
they
didn't
let
market
timing
scare
them
off
.
Launching
during
a
downturn
gave
them
breathing
room
to
build
and
by
the
time
crypto
interest
returned
,
they
were
already
positioned
and
ready
to
capture
and
ride
that
wave
.
And
finally
,
they
built
multiple
revenue
streams
early
,
both
B2C
and
B2B
,
which
allowed
them
to
scale
faster
and
build
resilience
into
the
business
Episode Closing
Speaker 1
9:12
model
.
That's
it
for
today's
episode
.
Please
consider
subscribing
to
the
show
,
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,
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.
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